SC strikes down Haj subsidy, to be eliminated within 10 yrs

May 8, 2012

hajj


New Delhi, May 8: The Supreme Court today struck down the government's policy of giving subsidies to Haj pilgrims and directed that it be progressively "eliminated" within a period of 10 years.

"We hold that this policy is best done away with," a bench of justices Altamas Kabir and Ranjana Prakash Desai held. The bench also directed the government to reduce to two the number of its representatives in the Prime Minister's goodwill delegation.

It said it will look into the functioning of Haj Committee of India and it process for selecting people for Haj pilgrimage. The apex court was hearing an appeal filed by the Centre challenging a Bombay High Court judgement which had directed the Ministry of External Affairs to allow certain private operators to handle 800 of the 11,000 pilgrims earmarked under the VIP quota subsidised by the government.

The bench while hearing the plea of the Centre had expanded the purview of the plea and decided to look into the legality of the government's policy on granting subsidies to Haj pilgrims.

During the hearing in the case, the Centre had defended the policy of giving subsidies to the Haj pilgrims and had said it had framed guidelines so that people get subsidies only once in their lifetime.

In an affidavit, the Centre had told the court that it has decided to restrict Haj pilgrimage at government subsidy to Muslims only as a "once in a lifetime" affair as against the existing policy of "once in five years".

It had said the new guidelines have been framed to ensure that priority is given to those applicants who have never performed Haj.

The government, however, had refrained from disclosing the amount of subsidy being incurred by it for 2012, saying, "The exact figure in respect of the travel subsidy to the pilgrims going through Haj Committee of India for 2012 will be known after the Hajis completed their Haj journey and return to India."

The apex court had earlier expressed its dismay at the practice of sending official delegations to accompany the pilgrims and had asked the Centre to furnish entire details regarding Haj subsidy, as also about the criteria adopted.

"These goodwill delegations need to be scrapped altogether. They are no longer relevant. Even a team of 9 to 10 persons is not required," the bench had observed.

The bench had also pulled up the Centre's practice of "politicising" Haj by permitting official delegations to accompany the pilgrims, for which the government offers huge subsidy, saying, "It's a bad religious practice."


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News Network
February 29,2020

Kochi, Feb 29: A 36-year-old man admitted to a government hospital here died early on Saturday due to high fever, health officials said.

The test results of blood samples of the man admitted to the isolation ward of the Coronavirus patients at Kalamassery Medical College hospital had confirmed that he was not infected with the deadly virus, doctors said.

He had been suffering from pneumonia for last five days, they said.

He was a diabetic too. His end came at 12.30 am due to multi organ failure, they said.

Medical authorities said his samples have been sent for detailed examination at the NiV lab at Alappuzha and awaiting the results.

The man from Kannur district had returned from Malaysia on Friday with high fever and breathing problem.

He was referred to the hospital after he was diagnosed with serious health issues during a thermal screening for Coronavirus at the international airport here upon his arrival from Malaysia, they said.

Doctors had said the health condition of the patient was not satisfactory.

Ernakulam District Collector S Suhas had visited the patient at the hospital on Friday, officials said.

Kerala had reported India's three Coronavirus cases but all three had been discharged from the hospitals marking their recovery of all three cases of infection in India reported from Kerala.

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News Network
March 29,2020

Kannur, Mar 29: A non-resident Keralite (NRK)

under home quarantine here since he returned from Sharjah recently died on Sunday, officials said.

According to health authorities, Abdul Khader (65), a resident of Kannariparamba, was kept under home quarantine after he returned from abroad on March 21.

Police said the man had no symptoms of coronavirus but was under isolation as per Covid-19 protocol for persons returning from abroad and other states.

"The relatives of the deceased took him to hospital after seeing him unconscious in his room. However he died before reaching the hospital," police said.

Quoting medical college authorities, the Mayyil police said he died of cardiac arrest.

However, the health officials said they will test his blood sample to ascertain whether he was affected with novel coronavirus.

The body has been kept at the Kannur medical college and will be handed over to his kin only if the result of his blood test is negative, sources said.

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coastaldigest.com news network
June 12,2020

Mangaluru, June 12: Juma prayers were held in dozens of mosques across coastal district of Dakshina Kannada including the city of Mangaluru for the first time in nearly three months upholding all the safety norms including physical distancing. 

For the first time in the recent history of Mangaluru, juma prayers were stalled in all the mosques for 11 consecutive weeks as part of nationwide coronavirus lockdown. 

While many mosques were reopened for the congregational prayers in the region on June 8 (Monday) after receiving approval from the government, many others are yet to be opened as Muslim religious leaders are taking additional precautionary measures to prevent the spread of covid-19 apart from following all the guidelines issued by the government.

“Around 400 people participated in the Juma prayer at Zeenat Bakhsh Juma Masjid. All the safety guidelines were followed. Sadaqatul Nadwi delivered the sermon and led the prayers,” S M Rasheed Haji, executive member of the mosque committee told coastaldigest.com.

“As per the guidelines, devotees performed Wudu (ablution) at their homes and also carried their own musalla (prayer mat) to the mosque,” said a Jalaluddin, a cleric who offered Juma prayers in Ullal.  

The guidelines issued by the government to the mosques also include disinfecting the premises at regular intervals, maintaining physical distance, wearing masks and finishing prayers in “minimum permissible time”.

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